Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

A rounds back then seemed to be anywhere from $2-3 million (LA or NYC) or up to $5 million in Silicon Valley. $5 5 million was always the classic definition of an A-round between the late nineties (crazy financings aside) and say 2007. I saw this myself a few times in a row.

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Cap Table Silicon Valley Term Sheet Finance 399

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Since 2017 we’ve managed $3 million in revenue-based financing, which helps cash-strapped technology companies grow. We’re currently evaluating about 20 companies a month and issuing term sheets to 25% of them; those that fit our investment criteria. “ You qualify if you have $5k+ MRR. Bigfoot Capital. Decathlon Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

The first milestone in a new startup’s financing is called ‘Seed Capital’ which refers to the initial investment raised by the founders from their friends and family, or commonly referred to as FFF (Friends, Family and Founders), who mostly use their personal assets. Convertible Debt Financing. Raising Seed Capital.

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Finance Accredited Investor Angel Investor Seed Capital 93

Gust

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Last week , we gave some attention to the “why” behind convertible note financing for early stage startups. In this installment, I’ll dig into the “how” by dissecting an example term sheet based on a real deal. As with so many subjects in law and finance, mastering the jargon is half the battle.

Finance 79

Finance Preferred Stock Term Sheet Early Stage 79

www.mattbartus.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

A View from the Valley. Perspectives on issues affecting founders, startups and investors from a veteran startup lawyer in Silicon Valley. Matt is a lawyer representing technology companies through all phases of their lifecycle, from pre-incorporation, seed & VC financings, exit transactions and IPOs (read more).

Equity 40

Equity Vesting Silicon Valley Intellectual Property 40

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

There were regular events where experts talked about: fund raising, term sheets, constructing a team, product development, establishing biz dev partners, M&A, dealing with the press, etc. GumGum – Raises $11 million financing. So What is Different for Class Three? This education will continue.

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Los Angeles Silicon Valley Incubator Startup 287

Professor VC

APRIL 1, 2010

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. One comment made by Jason was that angels tend to be less sensitive than VCs on valuation and can potentially make it difficult to get a venture financing done at acceptable valuation. A related topic is the standardization of terms. ProfessorVC. Thursday, April 1, 2010. Steve Bennet.

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Term Sheet Angel Investor San Jose Venture Capital 32

Scott Edward Walker

AUGUST 31, 2011

Thanks, Scott Question We’re a startup based in Palo Alto, and we just received a Series A term sheet for a $725,000 investment. The investor is kind of insisting that we use his lawyer at a big Valley firm to represent us. Answer Welcome to the world of the Silicon Valley! At what valuation and on what terms?

Silicon Valley 45

Silicon Valley Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Redemption 45

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Cautionary note: No competent VC is actually fooled when you show up after raising $6M in seed financing and say you’re now raising an A! A-rounds back then seemed to be anywhere from $2-3 million (LA or NYC) or up to $5 million in Silicon Valley. $5 Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) October 7, 2014.

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Cap Table Silicon Valley Term Sheet Non-Compete 136

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

While going through my daily reading this morning, I came across a bunch of posts talking about how the sky was falling, Silicon Valley was in turmoil, financing was drying up everywhere, and all the unicorns were doomed. Mark also has a nice call out to me that helps explain why he writes posts list this one.

Silicon Valley 70

Silicon Valley Term Sheet Early Stage New York 70

Professor VC

JULY 25, 2013

It is the story of the founding of the venture capital industry in Silicon Valley and features many of the iconic companies created including Apple, Intel, Genentech and Cisco. An entrepreneur received two Series A term sheets, one lead by an international investor and the other from SH. Thank you sir, may I have another!"

Term Sheet 46

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication 46

Professor VC

APRIL 7, 2011

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. This will also serve as a good pointer for all the entrepreneurs who ask why I am not interested in their company led convertible note financing round. This can make it much more difficult to get any bank financing, new investment, and trade credit. ProfessorVC. Thursday, April 7, 2011.

San Jose 36

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Valuation 36

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

Network strength is one of the reasons that people who want to build great software businesses have, and will continue to move to Silicon Valley. Despite the overblown stories about the decline of Silicon Valley, the fact is that it remains the strongest entrepreneurship network in the world.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

Network strength is one of the reasons that people who want to build great software businesses have, and will continue to move to Silicon Valley. Despite the overblown stories about the decline of Silicon Valley, the fact is that it remains the strongest entrepreneurship network in the world.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

OnlyOnce

DECEMBER 14, 2011

One of the most important things you can do as an entrepreneur is to surround yourself with a great lawyer (as I mentioned in my posting on negotiating term sheets ) and a great accountant. Picking Professional Services Firms.

Silicon Valley 67

Silicon Valley Term Sheet Finance Partner 67

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. & Raising Capital Pitch Perfect 4 ways to get automatically rejected by an angel investor Raising Money Using Customer Development Due Diligence Checklist Term Sheet Archives (from Brad [.]

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

ReadWriteStart

MAY 8, 2012

Like most first-time entrepreneurs, we were so excited by our first term sheet — and scared we wouldn’t get another — that we came very close to accepting it, even though the investors weren’t the best fit. It didn’t come from the traditional incubators or super angels found in Silicon Valley; instead, we took an unorthodox route.

Cofounder 140

Cofounder Startup San Francisco Silicon Valley 140

finance.fortune.cnn.com

AUGUST 21, 2012

Term Sheet. Term Sheet The latest on private equity, M&A, deals and movements — from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Term Sheet. Finance jobs. Fear & Greed. Mutual Funds. Exclusive: Returns for brand-name VC funds By Dan Primack August 20, 2012: 12:15 PM ET. Shawn Tully.

Naming 49

Naming Term Sheet Private Equity Equity 49

Eric Friedman

AUGUST 18, 2021

This doesn’t concern any specific industry, but that kind of behavioral finance. How do you come to terms with the new and the bold and the never been done and weigh them against things that aren’t going to happen? On Leaving Silicon Valley Bank. We do that primarily through leading financings.

Silicon Valley 88

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cofounder Africa 88

www.mattbartus.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

A View from the Valley. Perspectives on issues affecting founders, startups and investors from a veteran startup lawyer in Silicon Valley. Let’s say you receive a term sheet for a $1 million investment at a $3 million fully diluted pre-money valuation, and you’re kind of disappointed.

Warrant 40

Warrant Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 40

VC Adventure

AUGUST 24, 2011

With the performance of the public markets looking like an EKG read-out, I’ve been asked frequently in the past two weeks what effect this will have on the venture financing market. when the Dow drops 10% it’s not like term sheets headed out the door that week do the same).

Marketing 85

Marketing Silicon Valley Valuation Portfolio 85

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

These include building products, recruiting, managing your finances, marketing, selling, getting feedback from customers and … fund raising. If they see you when you’ve already got your first term sheet and they’ve got 3 weeks to decide then by definition they have no relationship with you.

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Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

Pascal's View

AUGUST 21, 2011

In April 2011, just prior to the Linked In, Pandora, and RenRen IPO’s, Fred Wilson reaffirmed his belief on his blog that we were not in a bubble in this sector: “I n all the posts over the past year or so outlining my thoughts on the financing and valuation environment in the internet sector, I’ve avoided using the word Bubble.

Valuation 50

Valuation Social Media Media IPO 50

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

Why the Unicorn Financing Market Just Became Dangerous…For All Involved. Ironically, Carreyou is not a Silicon Valley-focused reporter, and the success of the piece served as a wake-up call for other journalists who may have been struck by Unicorn fever. The Sharks Arrive With Dirty Term Sheets.

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IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

You may happen to emphasize the right points that pique an investor’s interest, but you shouldn’t leave your financing up to chance. Second, understand the broader financing climate. There will be one to three issues that are potentially problematic for your financing — address them head on. What will their concerns be?

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Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Financing, that is.I One truth of start-up financing is that it generally takes twice as long and twice as much money to accomplish your milestones. Most companies dont come close to their rose colored financial models prepared when going out for Series A financing. ProfessorVC.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28

VC Adventure

AUGUST 24, 2011

With the performance of the public markets looking like an EKG read-out, I’ve been asked frequently in the past two weeks what effect this will have on the venture financing market. when the Dow drops 10% it’s not like term sheets headed out the door that week do the same).

Marketing 48

Marketing Silicon Valley Valuation Portfolio 48

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

I doubt Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures believed that a horse with a horn existed when she wrote Welcome To The Unicorn Club: Learning From Billion-Dollar Startups in late 2013, but she probably had no idea that it would become a hot buzzword in Silicon Valley and hit the cover of mainstream business press, Fortune Magazine.

Las Vegas 28

Las Vegas IPO Pre-Money Valuation Valuation 28

Professor VC

JANUARY 20, 2009

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. The latest statistics from VentureSource show 554 financings in Q4, down from 620 in Q3 and 718 in Q4 2007. On that front, I take pride in the second headline with news that Fliqz , where I am CFO, just closed on $6 million in Series C financing. ProfessorVC. Tuesday, January 20, 2009.

Venture Capital 28

Venture Capital Silicon Valley San Jose Bootstrapping 28

Gust

OCTOBER 26, 2011

As we conclude our convertible note financing series, there are assorted terms commonly seen in term sheets and deal documents that are worth touching on briefly. Having made it almost to the end of our sample term sheet: Documentation. Returning to our sample term sheet: Note Purchase Agreement.

Finance 79

Finance Term Sheet Covenant Accredited Investor 79

Scott Edward Walker

NOVEMBER 26, 2017

Despite all the hype in the press (including with respect to the latest ICO craze), raising funds for your startup is still tough – particularly if you’re not located in San Francisco or Silicon Valley. Your second term sheet will be easier to get than your first, but i t will make a HUGE impact on your deal.

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Term Sheet San Francisco Founder Investment Bankers 63

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Btw, the definition of each startup financing stage has changed in the last decade. You’ll see a Term Sheet, Stock Purchase Agreement, Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, Investors’ Rights Agreement, Right of First Refusal and Co-Sale Agreement and a Voting Agreement. Silicon Valley.

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Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

abovethecrowd.com

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

As the bull market raged on from 2015 to 2022, it became quite trendy for venture capitalists to wave the requirement for an annual audit which is embedded in almost every standard Series A term sheet. Silicon Valley (and most large US cities) are full of lawyers who have ample startup experience. Who is Coporate Counsel?

Venture Capital 113

Venture Capital Non-Compete Government Delaware 113

venturehacks.com

OCTOBER 21, 2010

Later that evening you review the term sheet from Blue Shirt. Reading on, the term sheet states, “The $8 million pre-money valuation includes an option pool equal to 20% of the post-financing fully diluted capitalization.&# That does work if the company gets sold before another round of financing.

Option Pool 68

Option Pool Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Warrant 68

Bryce Dot VC

APRIL 21, 2016

“Why the Unicorn financing market just became dangerous…for all involved.” That was the title of the bombshell dropped on silicon valley last night. Perhaps the answer to the Unicorn dilemma isn’t to take the down round or the dirty term sheet.

Silicon Valley 40

Silicon Valley Dilution Term Sheet Down Round 40

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

500 Hats , January 10, 2010 Developing new startup ideas - Chris Dixon , March 14, 2010 Batch Processing Millions and Millions of Images - Code as Craft , July 9, 2010 jQuery Plugin: Give Your Characters a NobleCount - The Product Guy , March 23, 2010 How do the sample Series Seed financing documents differ from typical Series A financing documents?

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Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

When I was an entrepreneur there was no public information about how term sheets worked or how investors thought. Back then Michael Arrington accused some of Silicon Valley’s top seed funds of “colluding” by meeting secretly to talk down the valuation of startups. All of these are false. What hogwash.

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Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150